The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) yesterday asked federal government to x-ray the activities of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), because its operation is viewed as a “conduit pipe for siphoning the national wealth”.
Both president and secretary general of the TUC, Comrades Bobbio Kaigama and Musa Lawal, in a joint statement, said the ongoing fuel scarcity and consequent reappearance of long queues of vehicles at filling stations throughout the country had crippled economic activities for almost a week now.
“Indeed, from all indications it may not be far-fetched to view the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as the no. 1 conduit pipe for siphoning the national wealth,” they said.
The Congress however feels pained that this is happening, especially at a time when Nigerians are mourning the wanton killing of thousands of people in the North East of the country.
According to the statement, “We understand that some of the killed persons might have escaped their assailants but for the fact that there was no fuel for the vehicles that they might have used, met their untimely death”.
It added that the familiar trend of periodic scarcity of fuel is simply unacceptable, lamenting that Nigeria remains about the sixth largest oil producing country in the world and “giant of Africa,” and one ordinarily expects this to translate to great fortune and comfort for the average Nigerian.
